they were fearless
by signelchan
Summary: Sometimes all one needs to survive whatever fate befalls them is a good person at their side.


_i. nightmare:_

Reality in itself is not the most pleasant of things; for some, it can take on the illusion of everything being beautiful, but for others, it's one hellish nightmare. Being someone who had spent no less than twelve months confined to a robot suit, Alejandro definitely was one of those people who fit solidly in the second category. And although she hadn't had to deal with that sort of prison, there was a good chunk of evidence that put Heather in that same group too.

 _ii. chicken:_

While there was reason behind being able to call someone once so strong and powerful a chicken, it was more rude than anything to do such simply because just talking about volcanoes around Alejandro made him very uncomfortable. Anyone who had the guts to call him any names while his girlfriend was around got to see a side of her that reality television had never gotten the chance to show.

 _iii. baby:_

Rude names weren't tolerated, but petnames were—and for every day they were in each other's presence, there was overuse of cute names like sweetie or baby that got thrown around. Yes, it made their relationship seem more romantic than it was intended to be, but they had fought against their feelings so strongly that when they came to realize them, they were more intense than an average couple's.

 _iv. class:_

They may have had class, but they were definitely two of the most disgusting people socially. For every insult that Heather said behind someone's back, there would be at least three that Alejandro would say directly to someone's face, under the cover of being in Spanish. They'd laugh about it afterward, having no shame.

 _v. closer:_

Having spent so long claiming to hate each other had made them cherish the kisses they shared, and it wasn't a complete exchange unless one of them whispered to the other in a seductive tone to come closer and closer until more of them was pressed together than just their mouths.

 _vi. banana:_

Of all the fruits found in tropical climates, where the scene that could have realistically ruined any chance of them getting together had occurred, it was the pineapple that they still held a grudge against. Thankfully, the added bonus to eating that godforsaken fruit could also be found by eating bananas, which hadn't tried to kill one of them.

 _vii. vanilla:_

Just like their personalities, their sexual exploits were anything but vanilla.

 _viii. iPod:_

Due to the entire robot fiasco, there was a time early in their relationship when Alejandro would try to steer clear of anything even somewhat electronic unless he absolutely had to involve himself with it. To rid him of this fear, even though it was not the best way for her to approach the situation, Heather hid an iPod somewhere in his room and had it playing beeping noises until he found the courage to turn it off.

 _ix. judgment:_

People they had competed against liked to make disparaging comments to them about the fact that they had gone against their strong natures to start dating. Their response was to ignore whatever judgment came towards them, and dish out their own, something that they were naturals at.

 _x. vanish:_

They were ex-contestants on a wildly popular show, and while after a few years the public that hadn't been obsessed with them during their prime would probably have wished that they would just vanish from existence, there was no stopping the hype train about them, especially if they were still together and being a power couple that the show never had them as.

 _xi. dock:_

The first time they went to the beach together, some time after the show, they were sure to steer clear of the docks, as Heather was convinced that even stepping close to one would summon the presence of one Chris McLean and get them back involved in the series that had brought them so much suffering.

 _xii. hoodie:_

Typically on cool days, it was the women who would get excited about wearing men's oversized hoodies, but for some reason, every year before it got too cold for wearing anything less than a coat, it was Alejandro who insisted on wearing Heather's hoodies and flaunting his toned and tanned physique in something that was incredibly tight on him. She didn't mind that he ripped the arms off of two of her jackets doing this.

 _xiii. essay:_

To write an essay on the factors of their romance would be like grabbing a transcript of the two seasons of Total Drama they were on together, deleting all the parts that weren't about them, and then paraphrasing all the tension between them. It would be a long read, but it would have been worth it.

 _xiv. foster:_

Denying that they had feelings for one another was what fostered such lasting romance between them in the end, to the point that even losing another million dollars because of their love wasn't that big of a deal. Besides, they had the public fawning all over them—who needed a cheap million when publicity made them more money than that?

 _xv. mend:_

In the few months after All-Stars, mostly due to that robot suit, there were very few parts of Alejandro that weren't on the mend of some sort. Most were physical things that came back over time, but some of it was companionship issues that he solved through almost always finding himself attached to Heather in some way.

 _xvi. sunshine:_

He wasn't cheesy romantic enough to publicly call her petnames outside of hushed whispers, but the one time he slipped up and called him his _amor_ while people were around, he quickly had to follow it up with tripping her, to keep up a manly exterior. When she collected herself, she called him her sunshine and attempted to push him into traffic. If she had been stronger or him weaker, something might have come of it.

 _xvii. snapshot:_

Occasionally fan packages would find their way into their hands, and while Heather was ecstatic to know that people actually loved her enough to send her things, it sickened Alejandro whenever he would look through what had been sent and find a bunch of snapshots of them being nasty to each other. They looked fierce while giving each other disgusted expressions, but the fact remained that these were from before they could accept each other's love.

 _xviii. ribbon:_

Some people would get random presents from long-time lovers that came from the heart: jewelry, flowers, that sort of thing. One time Heather came into the room looking for where Alejandro had gone and found him laying completely nude aside from a single ribbon, which he had placed on his chest. True to her nature, she told him to take that off, rather than do it herself.

 _xix. canoodle:_

The best times together were when they could just canoodle for hours and not worry about keeping up appearances. Although they had been known for their brash and rude behavior, when it was just the two of them, things were simple and sweet, and while they were still terrible to each other, it was a different sort of terrible. Bad with dates, bad with presents, and bad with knowing how to normally please one another.

 _xx. fearless:_

They were horrible people, and horrible things had happened to them both over the course of their journey that brought them together. But with someone strong coupled with someone who could talk down anyone, they were fearless in facing whatever life came after reality TV.

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 **A/N: Originally posted to Tumblr on October 16th, 2014.**

 **Just another Aleheather fic from my vast backlog of them. This one was one of those word challenges, and I'm still pretty proud of it. c:**


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